Chained - A Jae-ha Fanfiction

Chapter 7

Rensa's P.O.V.

It had taken her a long time to crawl over to a tree, and then even longer to struggle to her foot. Her hands were still bound and were starting to swell. She studied the distance between the tree she used for balance and the next tree she needed to make her way to if she was going to fight her way back to the village.

After wallowing in her self-pity for a while, she decided to get up and get herself out of the tough situation. She was going back to the village and was going to fight if they wanted to get rid of her again. She no longer wanted to live in the background. She wanted them to know she was there, and know she was strong, and know she wanted to help and support them. And she wanted to see Jae-ha. She wanted him to tell her more stories, and she wanted to see the world more like he did. Even where she was alone among the trees, once she was up and trying to get back, she noticed the trees were vibrant shades of green with velvety-rough trunks, and the sun made the wild grass seem to dance in the warm light. It was beautiful. She wished she could share it with him. So she made the leap and hopped on one foot, tripping over a rock and stumbling into the next tree. She groaned, making it back on foot was going to take an exhaustingly long time.

She did not know how far she had gone by the time the sun was high in the sky and heading towards the evening hours, but strange sounds made her paused in her endeavors. There were many snaps of twigs breaking and leaves rustling. She gasped and sunk down, hoping to hide from whatever was coming. She covered her mouth to keep from breathing too loud and wriggled yourself around the tree to keep herself out of sight. Her leg was sore and her whole body hurt from the way she had been tossed around and dropped. She could not feel her hands anymore because of the tight rope cutting off the blood flow to her hands, which were a purplish color.

"You said she was here." A familiar high pitched voice accused. "Where is she."

"I swear, this was where we left her this morning. Or at least somewhere around here." One of the male voices she had heard from that morning replied defensively.

She gasped again when she realized the villagers were looking for her. What were they going to do? Were they going to hurt her? She curled up and prayed she would not be noticed.

"Zeno does not see anyone. Is it possible the girl was taken by others?"

Rensa paused in her panic. Zeno was there? Why was he with a villager? She carefully moved to peek around the trunk to see if she could catch a glimpse of the group, but could not see them from where she sat.

"There are no other towns for hundreds of miles."

Another loud sound crashed in front of her, followed by a thump. She whipped back around and saw familiar dark blue fabric and white boots. She raised her eyes and found Jae-ha standing in front of her.

She smiled with relief and allowed herself to relax against the tree trunk.

Shin-ah was also sitting on the ground with his bottom lip pushed out in a pout. Glancing between the two men, Rensa guessed Jae-ha had been carrying him and dropped him when they hit the ground.

"How did you guys find me?" She asked softly.

Jae-ha crouched in front of her. "We had a villager lead us, and then Shin-ah was the one who saw you." He replied just as soft as her, and carefully held out a hand for her to take, as if afraid to scare her, or that she would reject him. She raised both hands to rest her palm against his and his fingers curled around her hand. With his other hand he slid a blade from his sleeve and cut the rope from around her hands

"Are you alright?" He inquired, looking her up and down for injuries.

"Yes. But I can't stand anymore. I need your help." She whispered as she stared right into his eyes.